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Dong Fang Gas Holdings' stock fell to HK31.5¢ (A5.6¢), staging its biggest drop in a year, after PCCW sold a 13 per cent stake at a 37 per cent discount to Thursday's closing price. The stock is down 34 per cent since Dong Fang Gas agreed in March to give a controlling stake to PCCW in return for some buildings.

Richard Li followed his father, Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest businessman, in selling assets in exchange for stakes in small listed companies in Hong Kong, sending their stocks higher before selling at a profit.

Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa sold a fixed-line business to Vanda Systems & Communications Holdings in January. Vanda's stock fell 31 per cent in February after Hutchison sold Vanda shares at a discount.

"It's the touch of poison," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. "The assets they're selling aren't that bad. It's when they sell shares at dirt cheap prices that investors get burnt."

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Yesterday's decline values Dong Fang Gas stock at $HK3.15, after adjusting for a reverse stock split to combine every 10 shares into one.